Philippians (Lesson 2)

All right, thank you so very much for that kind word of introduction.

Thanks to each and every one of you for tuning in today.

I'm Brother James, and I greet you once again in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world, and I welcome you once again to the Preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast.

This program is the Ministry of the Bible Baptist Church in Deland, Florida, USA.

It's my honor and privilege to come your way on this radio station and spend some time with you expounding upon the pure and perfect word of God.

We are studying, we just began, just on the last program, we began to study the book of Philippians, and all we were able to do last time was get part way, well, most of the way through, our introductory comments upon this book.

The key to the book we saw to be rejoicing, to be joy, to be confidence.

We saw the book places a great deal of emphasis upon the mind.

Let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus.

Think on these things are themes that we'll cover throughout the course of our study.

But also in keeping with or in line with this idea of the mind and of thought life, chapter three and verse thirteen of Philippians says, This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Did you know that controlling your thought life is not just a matter of what you choose to think about, but it is a matter of dismissing those things which you should not think about.

And here we see that the Holy Spirit would have us actively decide to forget certain things, to choose not to think on those things.

Now, in chapter one of this book of Philippians, Jesus Christ is our life.

In chapter two, Jesus Christ is the one that completely controls our thought life, or he should be.

In chapter three, Jesus Christ is the one and only thing that we are striving for.

And in chapter number four, Jesus Christ is the one and only thing we need to supply everything this life may require along the way.

Now, what are you striving for, friend?

I mean, what do you what what's your pursuit in life?

What are you trying to become?

You see, if if a preacher, let's take a preacher for example, if a preacher's striving for Jesus Christ, he'll never become an egomaniac.

He'll never become a machine.

He'll never become a salesman, he'll never become a marketer.

Not if he's striving for Jesus Christ, his one and only goal will be to become more and more like the Lord.

And if that's his goal, the Lord will take care of his preaching, the Lord will take care of his decision making, the Lord will take care of his fellowship with his brethren if that's his goal.

If every deacon, every church member, every Sunday school teacher, if every saved person had as their one and only aim and goal, their only desire to be like the Lord Jesus Christ, they would be praying.

They would be reading the Bible, they would be witnessing, they would be loving the brethren, they would not be sinning against one another, they would not be gossiping, tail bearing, lying, deceiving, stealing.

The Lord take care of that.

If all of us were pressing not toward a position or a place or some power in the church or to manipulate somebody or tweak a situation so we could get something out of it, if we were pressing toward the prize of being like Christ, we would find the power of God enabling us to reach that mark, to cross that blessed finish line.

You see, all the trouble and problems among the brethren, brothers not getting along with brothers, sisters not getting along with sisters, they'd all be gone.

If our one desire was Jesus Christ, if we were all pressing toward that one mark, we would be laying aside every weight.

We would be laying aside the sin that so easily besets us, as Hebrews chapter twelve admonishes.

You know why it's hard to lay aside the weights?

Because we desire the weights more than Jesus.

You know why it's hard to lay aside the sin?

We're more fond of the sin than we are of Jesus.

Philippians three says if Jesus is your one desire, you'll be in good shape.

What's yours, my friend?

Is it money, fame, fortune, popularity, success, comfort?

If it's Jesus, if it's Jesus that you desire, then you'll know the help of God in achieving that desire.

You know why some people come into church and they stay a while and they stumble and they fall and they get into sin, and then either with a brother or a sister or pastor here at God or with God at an altar, they get the thing worked out and go on.

Do you know why?

Because Jesus Christ is what they're after.

That doesn't keep them from ever falling, but it assures that they will get up if they do fall.

Then somebody else comes into a church, they fall into a sin, they get messed up in something, and they're gone.

So why is that?

Because Jesus isn't what they were after.

Oh, he was okay for a while, but really, really, what they wanted out of life was something else.

What they really were pursuing was something else.

My friend, if what you're after is the Lord Jesus Christ, you might fall along the way.

But you'll get up and keep going.

You sure will.

Look at verse eight of chapter three, Paul's desire that I may win Christ, verse ten, that I may know him, verse eleven, that I may attain, verse twelve, that I may apprehend.

That's what he wanted.

This modern preaching, so much of it infecting our Christian radio stations, Christian bookstores, the religious Christian TV's almost eaten up completely with it.

That I may win money, that I may know things, that I may attain property.

All of that is just worldly covetous lust, with some Bible verses misused to justify it.

The aim and desire of a Christian is Jesus Christ, not materialism in Jesus' name.

Well, in chapter four.

Chapter four, we're continuing on with our introduction to Philippians, if you just join us.

Chapter four, what a great verse we find in verse 13.

I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me.

All the new translations change the verse.

And as usual, once you change it, you can't possibly find the truth or recognize it.

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Really?

Can you can you jump out of an airplane without a parachute and fly?

Can you really?

I don't think so.

Now let's take a look.

Let's take a look at the context.

Verse 11, not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content.

Can you do that?

I can't.

But through Christ I could.

I can do that through Christ.

Look at verse 12.

I know both how to be abase and I know how to abound.

Now I don't know how to do that.

Do you?

But through Christ, through Christ, which strengtheneth me, I can do that.

I can do that.

Now let me talk about preachers.

I know I know preachers.

I know preachers.

You know there are men that can live the Christian life as long as the church is growing and the money's coming in and their name and fame is spreading far and wide, but let a devil get in that church and split it.

Half the congregation goes, the money goes, things get tough, he's done.

Why?

He doesn't know how to be a base.

Well, here's another fellow.

He's little than his own eyes, he rents a storefront, he's knocking on doors, he's handing out tracts, God blesses, the church grows, there's fifty, then there's a hundred, then there's two hundred.

Then he's getting invited to preach here and there, and the next thing you know is pictures in the sword of the Lord.

It's a fifteen-year-old picture.

If you meet him in person, you'll wonder whose picture it is, but you but you understand.

You know what happens?

He's shot.

He's good for nothing.

You say, why?

He doesn't know how to abound.

A success can ruin you as quick as failure.

But in good times and in bad times, through Jesus Christ, you can stay true to God.

You can live the Christian life through Jesus Christ.

Now in the flesh, in the flesh, failure will ruin you, in the flesh, success will ruin you.

But as you lean upon and walk with Jesus Christ, you can do all things.

Verse 12 says, everywhere and in all things I'm instructed.

Both to be full and to be hungry.

Okay, I I'm I'll be honest with you.

I can handle being full.

I don't like being hungry.

Rarely in my life, thanks be to God, thanks be to my mother, thanks be to my father, thanks be to God for good health, good opportunities, never in my life, rarely in my life have I had to be hungry.

I I've gone to preach a couple of times in the third world, and I was hungry.

But that was good.

I don't know about you, I get up in the morning, and if I if I have food to eat, I thank God for it.

And if I have the health to eat, I thank God for that.

But if I had to be hungry, I don't know if I could do that properly through Christ.

Uh without Christ, uh but but through Christ, through Christ.

I can, I can be hungry, and I can be full through Christ.

Verse 12 says, I know how both to abound and to suffer need.

Now that's not something you want.

It's something you've got to have and you don't have it, a need.

I suffer need, I'm needy.

The Apostle Paul said, I've learned, I've learned how to stay true to God and diligent in prayer, faithful to my duty when I'm abounding.

And I have learned to press on toward the mark and do my job the way it should be done for the honor and glory of God when I'm suffering need.

I can do that through Christ, which strengtheneth me.

You know, here's what people here's what people want to do.

They want God to put his seal of approval and his enabling of power upon the lusts of their flesh and the desires of their mind.

Now this book of Philippians says joy, rejoicing.

Joy, rejoicing.

Sixteen times.

Sixteen times.

And then says, you can do all things through Christ, which strengthens you.

You can have joy regardless of your situation.

You can rejoice regardless of your circumstance through Christ.

And then twenty-six times in these four short chapters, twenty-six times in four short chapters, the word all is used.

All.

I like that.

No saved man, saved woman, saved child is excluded from the blessings.

No saved individual is excluded from the work of God in their life.

No born again Christian is excluded from what God has set out to accomplish in the believer.

Isn't that amazing?

It says all.

That's got to include me, that's got to include you if you're saved.

You we've got to be part of that.

Praise the Lord.

Okay, so we're now ready to start with the actual text of Philippians.

Philippians one verse one.

We start reading there Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi with the bishops and deacons.

Grace be unto you in peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making request with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ, even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, ye are partakers of my grace.

William Barclay said, If Christianity does not make someone happy, it will not make them anything at all.

That's really good.

That's the starting place.

It's the joy of the Lord.

The theme of joy and rejoicing is even more remarkable when we consider that the man God used to write this book of Philippians was in jail when he wrote it.

In verse seven he's in bonds.

In verse thirteen he says, My bonds.

In verse fourteen, my bonds.

Verse sixteen, my bonds, four times.

In chapter one, he reminds these people that he is in bondage.

He is a prisoner in jail, facing execution, and at the same time he's telling them how happy he is, how joyful he is, and how he's rejoicing.

That challenges and blesses my heart.

It's a sad thing.

It's a sad thing.

That so i it takes so little to sidetrack me and rob me of my joy.

I need this book of Philippians.

What we see here is that circumstances are not greater than the joy of the Lord.

The situation in which we find ourselves is not capable of robbing us of the excitement and the blessing of the Christian life.

I'm happy about that.

It's convicting, it's challenging.

But what a hope.

It's a sad thing.

I can't I can't speak for you, but I can speak for me.

I'm not in jail.

I'm not in a Roman jail.

I'm sure the jail Paul was in didn't have a wait room and a recreation room and a video game room.

You understand.

I doubt he enjoyed jail as jail exists today.

Wouldn't you say his condition was a little bit more primitive, probably a little bit more difficult?

One way or another he's going to lose his life for preaching the gospel.

And yet he writes over and over again about how full of joy he is and how he's rejoicing.

I'm not in those situations.

I'm pretty much free to come and go.

I don't know what the Lord has for me this coming week or this coming month, but things are pretty good right now.

Yet I'm not always joyful, not always rejoicing, not as I should be, not as I could be.

And that's the great message here.

Here is a man who has every reason to be unhappy, and yet he's happy.

He had every reason to be down, and yet he's up.

Because he stayed occupied with the Lord and the blessings of the Lord, and not with his surroundings or with his bonds.

Now, verse 1.

The scripture says Paul and Timothy, the servants of Jesus Christ.

In almost every epistle that God used the Apostle Paul to write, he speaks of himself as being an apostle.

Paul an apostle.

Romans 1, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus.

In Philippians, there's no mention of Paul being an apostle.

He sets forth his greeting and refers to himself as a servant.

And there are reasons for this.

Number one, the church is in good order.

As we mentioned last time, there's no rebuke in the letter, no correction in the letter.

There's no doctrinal heresy or deviation to be corrected, to be rebuked, and so he doesn't have to set forth the idea that he is an apostle.

He doesn't need to establish his authority.

He's writing as a brother in Christ, to other brothers and sisters in the Lord.

So there's no need to mention his apostolic office.

Number two, in Philippians there's no new doctrine set forth.

This is a letter of fellowship.

It's a letter of how you doin'?

I'm doing okay.

Hope you're doing okay.

Praise the Lord, everybody with me is fine, hope everybody with you is fine.

So he doesn't have to establish any authority.

I'm an apostle, and God gave me the right and the privilege to set forth this teaching.

He doesn't need to do that.

He's just writing to fellowship with them.

And so he doesn't have to point out that he's an apostle.

Number three, this church is well established.

Now the Bible principle is this the apostle.

Our word today we've substituted for apostle is missionary, or evangelist, apostle missionary.

What a true missionary does in our time is what the biblical apostle did.

He would go into an area where there was no New Testament church, he would preach the gospel, win people to the Lord, then gather them together in a church, an assembly of believers, and as that church became large enough and well established enough, the apostle would turn the ministry and the responsibility of that church over to a man who would serve as its pastor.

He did that with Titus on the island of Crete.

He did that with Timothy at Ephesus and different men at different places.

That was Paul's example.

Those men were then instructed, as the church grew and men in the church grew in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, to appoint elders and deacons to oversee and help with the work of ministering to the congregation.

Well, in Paul's writing to the Philippians, look at verse 1, he writes to the saints with the bishops and deacons.

So why does he not write as an apostle?

Because there's not further need of the apostolic ministry in Philippi.

The church is established, it's grounded.

It not only has a congregation or membership, but it has overseers and ministers in place.

And so Paul can write to them not as an apostle trying to establish the doctrine and the ministry.

That's all said and done.

He can write to the people at Philippi as their servant, as their brother in And there's a fourth reason why the term apostle is not used and why sermon is.

It fits the theme of the letter remarkably well.

Look at chapter two and verse number five, Philippians two, five.

Let this mine be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who thought being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant.

Watch again, chapter three, verse ten, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.

Here is a man who is an apostle.

He's the apostle of the Gentiles.

And yet when he writes to the church at Philippi, he makes himself of no reputation.

Here is the man that is responsible for the founding of that church at the hazard of his own life.

And yet when he writes to them, he writes to them humbly as their servant.

Here is a man who is in bonds, facing death by execution for the cause of Christ, and yet he is writing to encourage them, to edify them.

He is in essence dying that they might learn how a Christian dies.

When he says Paul and Timothyus, the servants of Jesus Christ, as opposed to saying Paul the Apostle, he is testifying, the Holy Spirit through him is testifying.

Paul, you're a lot closer to that mark than you think you are.

You're a lot closer to that finish line than you might know.

That mark you're pressing toward, Paul, you may not see it from your vantage point, but from my vantage point, it looks to me like you're just about to cross the finish line.

If anybody could have made himself of reputation, Paul could have.

If anybody could have exalted himself above the brethren, Paul could have.

But here we see him writing humbly as their servant, facing death as Jesus Christ faced death, viewing himself not as Lord over the church at Philippi, but as the servant, the lowest of all in that church.

In fact, look down in verse one and watch this order again.

Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons.

What a remarkably refreshing change for those of us living in this day of egomaniacs in the pulpit.

To see the Apostle Paul addressing the saints first and the bishops and deacons second.

He's got an order here.

And that order is revealed to him through the Lord Jesus Christ and to us by the Holy Spirit.

And that order is the greater you are in the body, the larger your place in the scheme of things.

That doesn't mean you'll have more people under you.

It means you'll have more people over you.

You will not be standing above the greater number of people looking down upon them.

You will be stooped below the greater number of people carrying them on your shoulders and bearing their burden upon your heart, even as the Lord Jesus Christ, who went from the peak to the very depths, and made himself a servant of all.

Why is Jesus the greatest?

Not because he's over the greatest number of people, but because he took a place below the greatest number of people, bore the greater number of burdens, carried the greater number of sorrows, that made him the greatest of all.

So Paul writes this letter to the church at Philippi and he says, Hey, if you're really a bishop, if you're really a deacon, you will have to put the saints ahead of yourself.

That really that really reverses things, doesn't it?

In fact, that's such a vital and important point.

We're gonna we're gonna ease to a stop here today and pick up with that point when we start the next broadcast.

How about that?

Now don't go away, not just yet, because some of you won't be able to listen to every program in this study on Philippians, and we'd like you to have the entire the entire collection have no idea at this point how many lessons we're going to run, but when we finish them up, they'll be available to you in the old-fashioned way on cassette tape recording, and then on MP3 disk.

I'm not sure what that is, but we have it.

I don't do it, somebody else does it.

I'm too far behind the times, and not all that interested in catching up.

But you can obtain this Philippian study by visiting us at our web address, jamesnox.com, or by writing to us at 872 Glenwood Road.

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D-E-L-A-N-D, D Land, Florida.

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Until then, I'm Brother James.

May the Lord richly bless you.

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